The Silver Serpent
by splattermusic
Summary: Can't Zuko have at least one normal day of his life? Now he meets this strange woman, she claims she's from the spirit world. And now she needs help finding her dragon of a boyfriend...wait...what?
1. Chapter 1

**I'm sorry if it's bad, I admit, it's not my best work, but I had to get this out of my system. This is my first Spirited Away fic so have mercy on me. This was inspired by a piece of art from deviantart. If you want to look at it, go onto deviantart, search "Spirited Away" and the second one, the picture that has an older Chihiro in a red dress and dragon Haku, that's the one. I hope you like. Please review, if you want to favorite, please review, if you want to story alert it (which is really no use because this is a one-shot), please review, if you hate it, please review.**

**-splattermusic**

**I do not own Avatar, Spirited Away or the idea of older Chihiro  
**

* * *

Zuko rubbed his temples as he forced his conscious mind to stay awake. The meeting seemed endless. He looked around the room to see every leader from each nation. Representing the Air Nomads was, obviously, Aang. Representing the Earth Kingdom was the earth king and Toph, due to Bumi's unstable nature; they decided it was best if Toph came instead. Sokka and Katara represented the Southern Water Tribe as their father was busied himself with rebuilding the South Pole. Pakku represented the Northern Water Tribe.

Zuko could easily identify each person's reaction to the postwar meeting. He, himself,was bored, and Aang desperately attempted to throw various ridiculous ideas for rebuilding the world. Toph was just as bored as Zuko, though she occasionally interjected a crude comment here and there, many were unneeded, all of them, unwanted. Sokka could barely hold his excitement of being in an official meeting and came up with clever methods of renovation, while his sister listened intently and offered wiser alternatives to plans that have gone awry in the past. Pakku did most of the talking with boasting bravado. And for the earth king... he sat as rag doll would, limp and motionless; he appeared to be taking things in, but in truth, he had no idea what to do.

The fire lord began to think that having a peace meeting composed of five kids and two adults, well, now three kids and four adults as Zuko was now nineteen and Sokka, eighteen, was not a good idea. When the meeting was finally announced over, Zuko darted out of his seat-or rather throne-and out to the hall. "Zuko!"

He groaned mentally,_'Who could it be now?'_ He turned to see a certain waterbender and immediately regretted his thoughts. She warmly smiled at him. "Where are you going?"

He laughed. "Anywhere but here." He thought of the irony, for he was a firebender and grew cold to everyone while Katara was a waterbender and she had such a warm aura.

She linked her arm with him. "Can I come with you?" Zuko blushed and began to stare at their arms. Katara rolled her eyes, "Don't worry, we'll go as friends."

As tempting as the offer was, Zuko had to refuse. "I'm really sorry, I just wanted to go alone, clear my head, sort things out."

"Oh," Katara realized, "tomorrow, maybe?"

Zuko nodded and head towards a room, his room. It was red, gold, magnificent and empty; same as usual. He closed the door behind him and threw his robe off his body and onto his bed. Under neath it, he only wore a loose pair of trousers and boots with a pointed tip. He pulled a maroon shirt and a scarlet tunic from his drawers. After he wore the shirt with the tunic on top, he posed in the mirror, carefully inspecting his outfit for any signs of royalty. _'Back in the good old _days' he thought of the days when he traveled with the avatar and his friends, as this was the same outfit he wore those many years ago. After affirming his clothes, he went into the bathroom and opened a small compartment underneath a table. He pulled it open to reveal skin toned face paint-a gift from Suki. He applied it to his scar and stared into the mirror. He didn't look at all like himself, and that was the plan.

Zuko quickly sketched a note and let it on his bed. He jumped out the window and onto a nearby tree. He slid down the trunk and slipped past the guards._ 'I really need to train those guys,'_ he mentally noted. After sneaking around, he finally arrived in the market place. He carefully weaved through the bustling morning crowd. No one noticed him. He took a pink-green apple from a random cart and left a significant gold coin in its place. Zuko bit into the sweet and crunchy fruit and figured that it was a pink lady.

He soon figured that the bazaar was too loud to think properly. He made his way to the lush forests in the background. After walking aimlessly around for hours, Zuko swore that he heard a twig snap behind him. At first he ignored it, then, it happened again. "Who are you?" he demanded.

Suddenly, someone, or something, grabbed his collar, pulled him back, tied his arms, and placed a knife at his throat. A strong feminine voice hissed from behind his ear, "Where. Is. Haku."

"What?" Zuko asked, dumbfounded.

"Haku! The spirit of the Kohaku River, my lover."

"I'm sorry; I don't know who Haku is. Who are you?"

She let him go and he fell into a nearby creek. Fresh, crystalline, water splashed across his face. The paint on his eye began to drip away like wax on a candle. He looked up at the woman who had captured him. She looked to be in her mid-twenties. She had brown hair that was worn down with the exception of a medium length ponytail on the back of her hair, which was held by a single, pink hairband. She wore a red, seductive, silk dress with intricate floral patterns and it reached to the forest floor. The dress's side was cut, revealing her pale leg. She had deep, large, brown eyes which looked as if they once held innocence then lost it a long time ago. "My name is Chihiro," she announced proudly, "of the bathhouse realm of the spirit world."

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "But, how can you be here if you live in the spirit world?"

"I am human and spirit," she answered quite plainly, "that is all there is to it. My realm is more connected to actual realities than other realms of the spirit world. Spirits who reside there are free to move between worlds."

"Worlds?"

"Yes, worlds. It may be hard to believe, young firelord, but there are alternate realities, quite different to yours. I've traveled to hundreds of them in my lifetime, but it's only a fraction of all the realities out there. I come from a world quite different from your own. It is highly advanced, so advanced, the technological stage at which your Fire Nation is in, my world has past more than thirty years ago. But, there are no benders. We have been gifted with our intellect and only our intellect, nothing else."

Zuko was completely flabbergasted. "How can you enter the spirit world? Only the avatar has the ability to do that!"

"In the bathhouse realm, humans may travel to the spirit world," she coolly explained, "though there is a strong chance that they will never be able to completely leave. I've learned that first hand."

He placed his head in his hands and sat on a rock. He sucked air between his gritted teeth."Okay, if I help you find your boyfriend, can you please not kill me?" Chihiro slipped her dagger into a leather strap on her leg and nodded her pale head.

She spun on her heel and disappeared into the brush. Zuko raised an eyebrow and Chihiro poked her head from the foliage, "Are you coming or not?" and she disappeared once more.

Zuko began to trail after her. Chihiro easily dodged the low branches of barricading while Zuko busied himself by angrily pushing those said branches out of his face, though some did whack him in the eye, nose, mouth, anywhere on his face. "So," Zuko managed to say, "What's your relationship with this... Haku?"

"I first met him when I was a young little girl, my little pink shoe floated away into the Kohaku river," she stopped to laugh, much to Zuko's surprise, "it was his river, so he saved me. Then, when I got stuck in the spirit world for the first time, he helped me get back to the human world. It was then, when I realized who he really was and, unknowingly, I fell in love with him.

"One day, when I was exploring around a forest, I accidentally stumbled into the spirit world. I didn't know where I was until it was too late, I was permanently bound to the spirit world. Haku found me and helped me with dealing with the fact that I can't stay in the human world for long. I began to grow more and more spirit-like. I gained new abilities, abilities I've never believed: speed, agility, and accuracy. Now, I barely smell human.

"Through this, I finally understood that I loved Haku. At first, our love was innocent, then as we matured, so did our love."

"That explains the 'lover' thing," Zuko interjected.

Chihiro glared daggers at him. "I believed _I_ was the one speaking. Anyway, recently, he was sent by Yubaba, his boss, to go on a mission. Yubaba needed to write a contract with pure Fire Nation golden ink. She has been running low on gold lately, so he was sent to retrieve more and he's been missing for three months already. I've lived in this world for many weeks now, and I still haven't found him."

Zuko nodded in comprehension. "But, how did you know that I was the firelord?" He questioned.

"Your scar was the immediate give away. Besides, no one knows the Fire Nation like you, where could Haku be?"

"I have an idea, but we'll need some sort of transportation."

"Do you have dragons?"

Zuko scoffed. "No, not anymore... but we do have flying bison."

* * *

"Aang," Zuko called the young airbender's name as he walked into the courtyard with Chihiro trailing behind. Aang was lying down on Appa's brown arrow and Katara waterbent water from his thick fur. _'Probably from a recent bath,'_ Zuko deduced.

Aang looked up to Zuko. "Hey Zuko, what do you need?" He looked over to Chihiro, "And who's she?"

Zuko crossed his arms across his chest. "A friend; I need to borrow Appa."

Aang slid off of Appa's head. "Why?"

"He needs to help me something," Chihiro replied quickly and nonchalantly.

Aang glanced at Katara and back at Zuko. "Fine, but you can't go anywhere too tiring; he's still trying to rest from flying from the North Pole last night."

Zuko nodded and climbed onto Appa's head; Chihiro followed behind. "Yip yip."

Once those words left Zuko's tongue, Appa thrust himself into the sky. Chihiro held on tightly. She looked up, "So... where are we going?"

"To the Fire Nation's coal mines."

"Coal mines?" Chihiro asked, "But we're looking for gold."

"Exactly, on the outside, it looks extremely useless, until some miners found more than the Capital City's weight in gold. Most people don't know about it except for the royal family and the mine's guards." He reached into his pocket and took out a single gold hair piece and pin. He placed it in Chihiro's hand. "This is made out of some of the purest Fire Nation gold in the world. That is where we'll find the gold and Haku."

Chihiro grinned at the last word.

* * *

The flight took an awkward hour. When they landed, Zuko professionally vaulted off of the furry mammal. "We're here."

Zuko strode to a jet black cave, where several men were posted to protect the precious metal with their life. "Who goes there?" the man asks.

Zuko stepped out of the shadows, "It is I, Firelord Zuko," he looked over to Chihiro, "and a guest."

The guards stammered and quickly knelt down. Zuko proudly walked past the kneeling men and Chihiro followed suit. Suddenly, one of the men grabbed Zuko's arm, "But be careful, your Highness, there is a silver-white beast inside, he is malnourished, beat, and too weak to move out of the cave, but it is still capable of attacking."

"Does he have teal fur on his spine and long white whiskers? The body of a snake, the head of a wolf and the feet of a hawk?' Chihiro questioned.

The man swallowed and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. His mouth grew dry. "Ye-yes ma'am," he replied with the anxiety of a child in trouble.

Chihiro nodded. "That's him, let's go"

The two, red-dressed and all, walked into the mine. The air was thick and moist, it felt as if someone had placed a towel into scalding water and placed on their faces. A deep rumble erupted from deep within the cavern. "That sounds like him."

As the two ventured further into the cave, the rumble became louder, growing into a growl. At the end of the tunnel was a bright, golden sunlight, or, so they thought. Piles of gold, bigger than s village, dominated their sights, though in front of the gold was the beast the guard and Chihiro had described, a silver-white, bloody dragon. His bones and ribs seemed to protrude outward, threatening to tear his skin apart. Streaks of red coated his gleaming scales and his teal fur was matted with blood. His growling mouth was also...red.

"Haku," Chihiro whispered, "What have they done to you?" The beast's eyes softened and began to leak with tears. Chihiro picked up her dress and ran towards him. Embracing him tightly, her body began to have red stains all over; she looked up at her scarlet-red hands, "Zuko! His wounds are still fresh! He's still bleeding! Help him!" She screamed.

Zuko ran to the mouth of the cave, yelling to the guards, "You're off duty! I need to be alone!" And with that, the guards scurried away like mice, "Appa," he yelled to the sky-bison, "get Aang and Katara, now!"

Appa seemed to understand, at least Zuko hoped, for the dragon's sake.

* * *

Aang and Katara had finally arrived, and Haku was dying. Faster than Azula's lightening, Zuko explained the situation to the two waterbenders. Nodding their heads, they set to work. Aang cleansed the wounds as Katara healed them. She bent blood back into Haku's body, as disgusting as it was, it was necessary. Zuko set a fire and started to work on a herbal tea he had learned from Iroh, with Chihiro's help. All four did everything in their power to help him, despite Katara and Aang barely knowing anything about him.

Seconds passed like hours, minutes passed like days, and hours passed like years. Now, Haku was resting, they were done. Chihiro sat with his head in her lap as she poured the tea down his throat. Subconsciously, and instinctively, he drank. Aang and Katara, now aware of the situation, stared in awe; they had just saved the life of an actual dragon, an actual spirit. Chihiro smiled, and without looking up, she spoke, "Thank you, I have no idea of how I'm going to repay you."

Zuko sat beside her. "You don't need to thank me."

She smirked. "But, I do," she put her bowl down and put a hand on Zuko's jawline. She turned his head and brought his lips to hers. Zuko swore he could hear Aang and Katara's jaws drop. He sat motionless in the kiss and Chihiro pulled away.

"Wha-wha-why?" he stammered.

She pointed her index finger up, "Don't think this means that I like you, which I don't. I'm just saying thank you."

Zuko nodded and turned away, bringing a hand to his lips.

* * *

Haku was now awake, and he was currently taking the form of a man of his early twenties with shoulder length, black hair. He held Chihiro tightly by her waist, Zuko noticed. He spoke, "Thank you, if not for you I would not have been alive."

He held out a hand for Zuko to shake and Zuko slowly accepted. "Here," Zuko presented a large sack, "all the gold you need."

Haku nodded and looked into the sky at the setting sun, "Well, it's getting late; I don't want to be late. Well, now that I think about it, I'm late enough, as it is."

With a snap of his fingers a red, Shinto styled archway sprung from the ground. He and Chihiro began to walk towards it, though Chihiro turned her head and waved her fingers. Once they stepped under the arch, they disappeared and so did the arch, as if nothing had ever occurred.

* * *

**Now some of you guys might think that Chihiro is out of character, well, people can change as they get older and in the artwork, Chihiro seemed like that kind of person. I'm sorry if you don't like it, please spare me, but still review! I'm also sorry if the ending sucks, I was getting tired of writing.  
**

**-splattermusic**


	2. AN

**A/N: Hello readers of this story. I'm really glad that so many people liked this so much! I'm very flattered. Now, would you guys like me to write three more stories similar to this? I've already got an idea of what to do, but I want to know if you guys like it. **

**Each story will focus on a certain element and each story will be released in the order of the elements. Fire, Earth, Water and Air. Each story will mainly feature one or more Avatar characters and one or more Ghibli characters. Each story will have a second chapter which will tell you which story is next. The story ideas are:**

**Fire:  
-Spirited Away  
-Zuko  
**

**Earth:  
-Princess Mononoke  
-Sokka and Suki**

**Water:  
-Ponyo  
-Katara**

**Air:  
-Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Porco Rosso, Howl's Moving Castle or Nausicaa (I'm indecisive)  
-(of course) Aang**

**So, what do you think? You guys like it? don't like it? Go on my profile to vote on the poll. If you have any suggestions for any alternate Ghibli or Avatar characters, I'll gladly listen (but that doesn't mean I'll actually do it). And help me decide which Ghibli movie should the story of "Air" be about? Good thing that's my last story. So remember, do the poll if you like this idea! If you don't... still do the poll, there's a "no" option  
**


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